- Hunga Tonga Volcano erupted in the Pacific Kingdom of Tonga and created a tsunami and sent sound waves globally multiple times.
- A recently published climate impact study in the Journal of Climate noted below observations:
- The eruption can explain the large ozone hole in 2023 and the wetter-than-expected summer of 2024.
- Sulfur dioxide in smoke clouds cools the earth by creating sulfate aerosols that reflect sunlight. However, Hunga Tonga produced little smoke but released 100–150 million tonnes of water vapour.
- This water vapour reached the stratosphere (15-40 km above the surface) and contributed to chemical reactions that destroyed the ozone layer.
- Water vapour also acts as a potent greenhouse gas. However, it had a minimal impact on global mean temperatures (0.015°C).
- Northern Australia may experience colder, wetter winters until 2029 and North America will have warmer winters, whereas colder winters in Scandinavia.
Dig Deeper: Locate on the map the recent volcanic eruption sites.
